Actuators intended to make actuation of movable body parts easier or to be used as a pinch protector or closing aid are increasingly used in motor vehicles. Thus, for example, an opening and closing control system for a vehicle sliding door, which is attached on one side to a vehicle body, is known from published German patent document DE 198 13 513. The sliding door is driven by a drive source, such as an electric motor, in accordance with an inclination of the sliding door if the motor vehicle is inclined vertically in relation to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle body, i.e., if the motor vehicle stops on an inclined street.
Published German patent document DE 10 2005 019 846 discloses a control device for improving the function of the opening and closing of a hatchback equipped with a gas-filled shock absorber, having a feeler for detecting the particular opening angle of the hatchback in relation to a vehicle body. An electronic control unit receives a detected angle from the feeler and outputs a pressure regulation control signal. The gas-filled shock absorber regulates the pressure of a cylinder in accordance with the control signal of the electronic control unit.
Furthermore, a two-part hatchback having an upper body part and a lower body part is known from published European patent document EP 1 652 708. With the aid of electric motors, the upper and lower body parts are controlled in such a way that they move synchronously with respect to one another. Published Japanese patent document JP 2005 194 767 discloses a movement sensor for checking the position of a sliding door, the sensor being situated and designed in such a way that a deep discharge of a vehicle battery is avoided. In addition, a movement sensor is disclosed in published Japanese patent document JP 2005 016 252, which transfers a signal to a control configuration to activate an actuator for the soft opening or closing of a vehicle door.
It is known from published German patent document DE 197 55 259 that microprocessors for controlling various actuators may be brought into an idle mode to reduce the power consumption in a motor vehicle. Wakeup and action signals may be applied to the microprocessor via an external switch assigned to a circuit configuration, to switch the processor from the idle mode to an operating mode. The circuit configuration has an idle mode circuit for generating a wakeup signal which triggers a wakeup interrupt, when the microprocessor is to be switched from the idle mode to the operating mode, and an operating mode circuit for generating action signals, the idle mode circuit being applied to a wakeable digital input and the operating mode circuit being applied to an analog input of the microprocessor and the at least one external switch being assigned to both circuits.